The present invention relates generally to the assembly of electrical connecting devices, such as wire or cable harnesses and, more particularly, to an apparatus for shifting selective wires in positions between opposing connectors within the harnesses during fabrication thereof.
Wire harnesses are typically fabricated by terminating one or more wires at opposing ends of the wires to opposing first and second connector elements. Typically, in wire harnesses, the wires extend generally parallel to each other in a manner such that the first wire extends between the first termination position of the first connector and the first termination position of the second connector element, the second wire extends between the second termination position of the first connector element and the second termination position of the second connector element, and so forth with all of the wires of the harness being terminated between corresponding termination portions of the first and second connector elements.
It is sometimes desirable to have some of the wires in the harness shifted in their corresponding termination positions between their opposed first and second connector elements. In such applications, the first wire of the harness may extend between the first termination position of the first connector element and the first termination position of the second connector element, while the second wire may extend between the second termination position of the first connector element and the third termination position of the second connector element, and further, the third wire may extend between the third termination position of the first connector element and the fourth termination position of the second connector element and so on. In this type of wire harness, selected wires of the wire harness are shifted laterally between their opposing first and second connector elements to termination positions in one connector element which are one removed from their original termination position in the first connector element.
Some prior art devices are known for the assembly of wire harnesses in which one or more wires are displaced with their connections or in their extent between the first and second connector elements. These devices are for the most part complex in their design. Some wire harness assembly devices, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,493,147, issued Jan. 15, 1985, rely upon a reciprocating blade member which moves vertically to block off a wire pathway leading to a termination position of the second connector element. This device is complex and is not conducive to simultaneously shifting multiple wires within the wire harness.
The present invention is directed to an apparatus which offers a simplified apparatus and method for simultaneously shifting one or more selected wires of a plurality of wires in a wire harness assembly laterally to displace the selected wires one position removed as between opposing connector elements which terminate the ends of the wire harness.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved wire-shifting apparatus having a plurality of wire guides removably disposed thereon which receive a plurality of wires corresponding in number to the number of wire guides during the assembling of a wire harness, some of the wire guides being restrained from movement within the apparatus and other wire guides being movable within the apparatus, whereby wires entering the movable guides may be selectively shifted laterally with respect to each other.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing a wire harness by feeding a plurality of wires into a plurality of wire guides which are disposed in the path of the wires and leading to a wire harness connector element, providing a wire-shifting apparatus which shifts selected ones of the wire guides, aligning the wire guides at the entrance of the wire-shifting apparatus into a first predetermined pattern, shifting selected ones of the wire guides into a second predetermined pattern by displacing the selected wire guides laterally such that, when terminated, selected wires of the wire harness extending from the first connector element engage the opposing second connector element at different lateral locations.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for shifting selected wires of a plurality of wires during the assembly of such wires into wire harnesses, wherein the harnesses include a plurality of wires extending together in side-by side order between two opposing connector elements and selected wires of the harness are shifted laterally with respect to the remaining wires in the harness, whereby the selected wires extend from certain termination positions in one connector element to other termination positions in the other connector element which are laterally offset from the first connector element termination positions, wherein the apparatus includes a wire guide platform having a plurality of wire guides mounted thereon, each wire guide including an elongated channel having a base portion which engages the platform, some of the wire guides being fixed in position upon the platform, and other wire guides being movable upon the platform, the movable wire guides having a pivot member defining a point upon the platform about which each movable wire guide pivots, the movable wire guides further engaging a rack which reciprocates within the apparatus, movement of the rack within the apparatus laterally shifting the movable wire guides.
It is still yet a further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for assembling wires in a wire harness, wherein the apparatus includes a frame which holds a plurality of wires therein without tangling, the frame having a plurality of elongated wire guide members disposed thereon which are laterally shiftable upon the frame around a predetermined point, whereby shifting of the wire guides shifts the wires into selected positions within a connector element, the wires being subsequently shifted back into their starting positions and applied to a connector element.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for laterally shifting selected wires during a wire feeding process in which the wires are shifted between circuit locations of two opposing connector elements terminated to opposing ends of the wires, the apparatus including a planar support surface with a plurality of wire guide elements disposed thereon in a preselected pattern, some of the wire guide elements being pivotally mounted on the support surface and others being fixedly mounted thereon, both of the fixedly and pivotally mounted wire guide elements being removably mounted on the support surface, whereby the wire guide elements may be easily rearranged to fit any number of chosen wire shifting patterns.